The best defence in the league goes up against a team which has scored at least twice in their last five matches at St James’ Park on Sunday.

Newcastle have defied pre-season expectations of a relegation battle by navigating their way through the first seven games of the campaign without tasting defeat.

Crucial to their success has been the form of goalkeeper Tim Krul and a defensive quartet marshalled by Steven Taylor and Fabricio Coloccini, with just four goals conceded in seven matches at an average of 0.57 goals a game.

However, the Magpies’ defensive reputation was largely built over the first four games of the season, with clean sheets kept against Arsenal, Sunderland and QPR during this time.

Since then, Alan Pardew’s side have conceded once against Aston Villa, Blackburn and Wolves and three times against Nottingham Forest in the Carling Cup.

This suggests that the seemingly-generous odds of 13/5 on Newcastle keeping a clean sheet against Tottenham should be avoided.

Instead, punters should look to Tottenham justifying their status as 7/5 favourites and inflicting a first defeat of the season on the Magpies.

Spurs are on a run of four Premier League wins in a row, with two of these victories coming against fellow top-four contenders Liverpool and Arsenal.

Key to this success has been their attack, which is rated as the fourth-best in the league In terms of average goals scored.

However, with seven of the 11 league goals they have bagged not coming until the final 30 minutes, betting on Newcastle to stay level with Spurs before half time before Harry Redknapp’s side edge ahead after the interval could pay off at odds of 21/4.

A successful £25 free bet on the game to be level at half time with Tottenham winning at the final whistle would return £156.25, with the free bet available to new customers who sign up for a bwin account.

A safer option would be for Spurs to win the second half at 33/20.

However, those who fancy Newcastle to continue their fine start to the campaign can back them to pick up three points at odds of 7/4, which are admittedly generous given their recent results and home advantage.

And for those who think the two in-form teams will cancel each other out, a draw is available at 12/5 in bwin’s 3Way football betting market.

But with Spurs on the up and Newcastle looking increasingly vulnerable, a Tottenham win still looks like the best bet.

New customers can register here to claim their free £25 bet or click here to see all our Premier League odds.

Tim worked as a desk head at online press agency Adfero for four years before joining the bwinbetting line-up. A refined character with impressive football knowledge, Tim will often be fouind at Carrow Road watching his first love, Norwich City.

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